In January 2007 I'm holding two courses at Kingfisher Barn, Newbury, Berkshire.
They are scheduled Thursday-Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon 11th-15th and 18th-22nd but either/both courses can be run one day later (Friday-Tuesday) if the majority prefer that.
Each day is self-contained and individuals can attend for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days.
There WILL be courses later in the year but we try to hit the New Year running.
Kingfisher Barn is a converted oak-beamed barn in a lovely secluded spot yet one mile from the nearest station.
For further details email me
alex.keegan
(at)
btinternet.com
Day 1: Thursday
The Over-Riding Importance of Voice & Character
Voice & Character, Setting Tone.
Voice & Dialogue
09:00 Talk: How Voice Shapes Reader & Writer 01
09:30 Exercise Voice 1
10:00 Talk: How Voice Shapes Reader & Writer 02
10:30 Exercise Voice 2
11:00 Talk: Why Character ALWAYS Comes First 01
11:30 Exercise Character 1
12:00 Talk: Why Character ALWAYS Comes First 02
12:30 Exercise Character 2
13:00 Discussion & Lunch
14:00 Thirty Minutes Free Time
14:30 Talk: Dialogue Errors
15:15 Exercise Dialogue Critiquing
15:30 Talk: Improving Dialogue. Do's & Don'ts
15:30 Exercise Dialogue 1
16:00 Summary
16:30 WRITING: Assisted Writing Time (Story)
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Feature Film: Looking at Deleted Scenes & Theme
Day 2: Friday
Bigger Little Stories
Avoiding Me-Too
Ambition
Honesty.
09:00 Talk: The Dangers of Certain Voices Limiting Scope.
09:30 Exercise: Laddish & Girlie versus Godlike. Dangers of First Person
10:00 Talk: How to Make Little Stories Bigger
10:30 Discussion: Writer-Generated Story Weighting
11:00 Talk: Truth, Pain (Napalm), Avoiding the Closed, The Lingering Ache
11:30 Short IDEA Workshop. Expand or Contract?
12:00 Talk: Why Setting Up the Reader is Important
13:00 Discussion & Lunch
14:00 Thirty Minutes Free Time
14:30 Talk: PLOT is a Four-Letter Word -1
15:00 Exercise: Plotting 1
15:30 Talk: More on Character v Plotting
16:00 Summary
16:30 WRITING: Assisted Writing Time (Story)
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Feature Film: Looking at Deleted Scenes & Theme
Day 3: Saturday
Let's Talk About YOU.
Getting Your WHY into Stories
Removing YOU
09:00 Talk: Why I Write. What Matters. What is My Ache?
09:30 Exercise: Where Am I Going? What Am I Saying? Commercialism.
10:00 Talk: Being Interesting. Seducing Readers. Under the Ribs
10:30 Discussion: Danger Zone. Who is Hiding? Who is a Cheat?
11:00 Talk: USING Truth, Pain. TMAWIA. Learning to Bleed. Lit v Genre
12:00 Discussion: Mixing Genres. Can I be serious, and Tell Stories?
13:00 REVIEW
13:30 Lunch Followed by Free Time
14:30 Talk: How Voice, Tone, Language Finds ME
15:00 Exercise: Using Voice, Tone, Language to Find My Ache
15:30 Discussion of Work
16:00 Summary
16:30 WRITING: Assisted Writing Time (Story)
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Feature Film: Looking at Deleted Scenes & Theme
Day 4: Sunday
THEME MUSIC
Poetry, Metaphor, Reference, Allusion
Fuzzy & Spiky. Using the Reader's Memory
09:00 Talk: TONE IS NOT AN ACCIDENT.
09:30 Exercise: I Feel Uncomfortable. This Isn't Me.
10:00 Talk: How Rich is Too Rich?
10:30 Exercise. One Story, Two Soundtracks. Voice-POV
11:00 Talk: USING Truth, Pain. TMAWIA. Learning to Bleed. Lit v Genre
12:00 Discussion: I Don't Like Literary Bollox. In Genre?
13:00 REVIEW & Discuss
13:30 Lunch Followed by Free Time
14:30 Talk: How Allusion, Reference, & Subtle Borrowing Enriches Feeling
15:00 Exercise: Rich Even When Writing Carver. Cliché v Resonant Reference.
15:30 Discussion of Work
16:00 Summary
16:30 WRITING: Assisted Writing Time (Story)
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Feature Film: Looking at Deleted Scenes & Theme
Day 5: Monday
Self-Gridding & Self-Editing.
Re-writing and Re-Living. Fine Toothcomb
09:00 Talk: How the Grid is Used Badly.
09:30 Exercise: Gridding Two Stories.
10:00 Talk: One Story, Two Critiques, One of Which is Honest
10:30 Exercise. A NON-Grid Review of a Story for Editing
11:00 Talk: How Elemental Polishes Dramatically Improve a Story
12:00 Exercise & Discussion: Gridding to Rewrite
13:00 REVIEW & Discuss
13:30 Lunch Followed by Free Time
14:30 Talk: Gridding Towards the Truth
15:30 Individual Gridding of Course Stories. Blue Pen
15:30 Group Discussion of Work
16:30 Summary
17:00 Afternoon Tea
The following elements will probably be covered within the above but for those not wanting to write in the two-hour slots, these talks/discussions will be available at those times
Making Stories Layered
Obtuse versus Oblique
Why Tone Can Be an Ally
How Allusions Can Bolster the Theme
How Word-Choices Can Subtly "Weight" Meaning
Having Real Plots Not Incident Chains
Voice + POV + Character + Situation = PLOT with Resonance
Aesthetics v Utility v Propaganda.
Why Some Stories Get Under the Skin When Others Just Have "Look at Me" Written All Over Them. Avoiding (Obvious) Showboating.
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